Comprehensive information and links about Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog (born Werner Stipetic on September 5, 1942Werner Herzog is a Bavarian film director, screenwriter, actor and opera director of Croat descent.

table , a retrospective on his often-rocky relationship with Kinski. He is often associated with the German New Wave movement (also called New German Cinema), along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder. His films feature heroes with impossible dreams or people with unique talents in obscure fields.

in Munich, and grew up in a remote village in Bavaria. At the age of thirteen his family shared an apartment with Klaus Kinski. About this, Herzog recalled, "I knew at that moment that I would be a film director and that I would direct Kinski".

When Herzog was thirteen he was told to sing in front of his class at school and adamantly refused. He was almost expelled for this and until the age of eighteen listened to no music, sang no songs and studied no instruments.

In the early sixties Herzog worked as a welder in a steel factory to help fund his first films.

He received his post-secondary education at the University of Munich and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In 1967 Herzog married Martje Grohmann. Their son Rudolph Amos Achmed was born in 1973. In 1980 daughter Hanna Mattes (mother Eva Mattes) was born. In 1987 Herzog married Christine Maria Ebenberger. Their son Simon David Alexander Herzog was born in 1989. Herzog is at present (2006) married to Lena Herzog.

Films and Criticism

Herzog's films have received considerable critical acclaim and achieved popularity on the art house circuit. They have also been the subject of controversy in regard to their themes and messages, especially the circumstances surrounding their creation. A notable example is Fitzcarraldo, in which the obsessiveness of the central character is mirrored by the director in the making of his film.

Once walked on foot from Munich to Paris to visit an ailing friend, critic Lotte Eisner. The experience is recounted in Herzog's book Once ate his own shoe after losing a bet to fellow filmmaker Errol Morris. Morris was interested in making a film about a pet cemetery (Gates of Heaven) and Werner believed Morris was not ambitious enough to do so. This story was the subject of a documentary by Les Blank called Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980).Narrowly avoided travelling on an airliner that crashed in the Amazonian rainforest with only one survivor (Juliane Koepcke) on December 24, 1971. Herzog was location scouting for On January 26, 2006, Herzog helped to rescue actor Joaquin Phoenix when his car overturned after a brake malfunction on a winding road in Laurel Canyon, near Herzog's home. As Phoenix described it: "I remember this knocking on the passenger window. There was this German voice saying, 'Just relax.' There's the air bag, I can't see and I'm saying, 'I'm fine. I am relaxed.' Finally, I rolled down the window and this head pops inside. And he said, 'No, you're not.'"It is often rumoured that Herzog filmed Kinski at gunpoint in Aguirre, Wrath of God because he had made attempts to leave the set.On February 3, 2006, it was reported that Herzog was shot by a crazed fan during a BBC interview. Herzog was chatting with Mark Kermode about his documentary , when a sniper opened fire with an air rifle. Kermode thought a firecracker had gone off. Herzog said afterwards, "It was not a significant bullet. I am not afraid." [1]Ian Curtis, lead singer of the band Joy Division, reportedly committed suicide a few hours after watching Stroszek on BBC 2 on May 18, 1980. The original vinyl release version of Joy Division's posthumous album featured the following groove notation: "The chicken won't stop" (side A), etched chicken tracks across the grooves (sides B

Awards

Herzog and his films have won and been nominated for many awards over the years. Most notably, Herzog won the best director award for The Lord and the Laden (aka. God of the Burdened) [part 9 of the series "2000 Years of Christianity"]